Übergangsritus

"My life, which I will not live / weaves my features, and we devour each other".The lyrical ego in this volume wants to speak "of wings", as it says in the poem "Zur Eröffnung" ("On the Opening") - removed from his own body, he thus gains an overview for his observations. Abdahlrahman Alqalaq's poems and his narrative sometimes have a bitter tone, they deal with war, flight and life in exile, but also do not want to forget the tender moments. They trace the old homeland, the distance that has piled up between the self and it, deal with the new one, remember friends. "But that's how it is, the exile syndrome: / I can't get up and I can't go down".Life in exile appears as life in an intermediate realm, which the language pursues in echoing images, sometimes more subtle, sometimes more violent, but always one thing: intense.Absent things take shapeMy flat only does one thing: It reminds me of things that are not thereThe walls, the stairsThe window handles, doorknobs, furniture edgesThe empty sofaBroken shadows on a table with two chairsEverything refers to what is missing and wants to drive me madAt some point, the absent takes shapeand you speak to it and bet:Which of us is more present in this flat?.